


For who could ever learn to love a Beast?

by SkyTintedWater



Series: Star Wars Love-In [1]
Category: Beauty and the Beast - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossover, F/M, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Reylo - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-18
Updated: 2018-10-26
Packaged: 2019-07-13 23:00:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16027796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkyTintedWater/pseuds/SkyTintedWater
Summary: A boy who became a beast instead of a man. A young woman wanting to make a difference in the world. A curse that may never be broken.





	1. Prologue

Once upon a time, in a galaxy far far away, a young boy is taken from his parents in the dead of night. Although his parents search high and low for their boy they do not find him. The boy is named Ben, and nothing will stop them in their searching.  
Meanwhile, Ben is presented before his master and told ‘You belong to me.’ The boy is given a new name and beaten when he doesn’t answer to it. He is taught to fight and beaten when he doesn’t train, or doesn’t train hard enough, or trains so hard he breaks things. The boy grows hard, and angry.  
The boy becomes Kylo Ren, and no matter how hard he fights, how strong he becomes, how calm his face, at night he dreams of love, and of family, and of peace.  
One night a terrible storm rolls across the land. Kylo Ren does as his master bids and shutters the windows, leaving the main door for last. When he tries to fasten it he finds a tiny, wizened woman crouched in the shallow alcove.  
‘Please let me in,’ she begs. ‘I will die if you leave me here.’  
Kylo prides himself on being emotionless, at least on the outside. Ignoring the flicker of empathy that he feels, he shakes his head and shuts the door.  
At least, he tries to.  
With a howl of wind and rain the door flies open, flinging Kylo Ren across the floor where he lands in an undignified heap.  
The old woman steps inside and although she’s still tiny and wizened there is a force surrounding her that makes Kylo’s eyes water. Behind her, the doors slam shut again and a terrible silence descends, broken only by the sound of Master Snoke running down the stairs.  
‘Get out! I’ll have no strangers in here!’ he yells. Behind him, Kylo Ren struggles to his knees.  
‘You have no heart,’ says the old woman. It isn’t a question.  
Master Snoke continues towards her, hissing and spitting insults. With a sigh she pulls a wand from beneath her threadbare cloak and raises it high, the tip glowing a beautiful bright blue.  
When Kylo manages to get to his feet his master is gone. He turns to the old woman, one hand on his staff. But some tiny flicker of light in the depths of his soul stops him, and he looks into her tiny brown eyes nearly hidden behind thick, rain-spattered spectacles.  
‘Your heart … could be saved. If you want it to.’  
‘My heart is strong! I have all the power that comes from rage, from hate. I have no room for your weakness.’  
She smiles at him. For a moment there’s something like pity in her eyes and then it’s gone, replaced with an expression as hard as his own. ‘If you’ve filled your heart with hate, boy, you should have a body to match.’  
Kylo reaches for his staff again but it’s too late. Another shout, another pulse of brilliant blue light and then agony, muscle tearing from bone flesh cleaving from muscle until his whole world is nothing but white-hot pain.  
When he raises his head it feels heavy. Odd. He puts it down to being thrown across the room until he tries to stand and realises just how wrong he is. His new body is bigger and more cumbersome and doesn’t move the way it should. All his training, all that practice, everything his Master did to become a warrior — wasted.  
With a howl he stumbles around the castle, bouncing off walls and tripping over his own paws in an effort to find his Master. Snoke will know what to do. Snoke will fix everything.  
Kylo Ren’s final agony comes when he enters Master Snoke’s room. Normally forbidden from entering, Kylo has only seen it once before. It looks the same now, except for the throne in the centre of the room. In it is a … shape, hunched over and silent.  
Kylo approaches, padding softly on his new paws. ‘Msstr?’ he manages.  
The shape looks up and Kylo realises that Snoke is not sitting in the throne — he _is_ the throne. The Snoke/Throne opens his/its mouth but only a long, drawn out hissing sound emerges.  
Kylo’s cry is drowned out by the thunder of the storm, finally here. In the nearby village, the townspeople shudder and move closer to their fires, taking what comfort they can from each other.


	2. Chapter 2

Rey walks towards her new home feeling lighter than she has in years. The village of Takodana is much nicer than her previous home in Jakku. There’s more green here than she’s ever seen in her life. There are flowers dotted about the place, in pots on windowsills, forming paths and peeping out from the sides of the well, just off the centre of the town square.   
People here are … well, they’re not friendly as much as they’re inquisitive, asking where she’s from, what she’s planning on doing, if she’s married and has children. When Rey answer the last question with a ‘no’ she can see polite horror cross their faces, especially the women. But she doesn’t mind. She has a plan for her life and it doesn’t involve children.   
Unpacking her meagre belongings (clothes, an old toy, a helmet given to her by a soldier years ago) doesn’t take long. It’s a good thing, since the villagers are beating a near-constant path to her front door, bringing her food and gossip and drinking more tea than an entire country could hold.   
When the mayor himself leaves, he gives her a final warning before she can shut the door in his face: ‘Stay out of the woods at night and stay away from the castle always. There is a savage beast who steals children and fair young maidens such as yourself.’   
‘I’ll remember, thank you,’ she says, shutting the door firmly and locking it.   
It’s easy enough to follow his warning — a child of the desert, the woods unnerve her and so she stays as close to town as possible while exploring for berries and mushrooms, heading home the moment the sky turns from blue to pink.   
And then came the night she heard the wounded cry of an animal in terrible pain. She’d heard cries like that before in her life, more than once, and always she’d ignored them. In the past it would have come from a luckless tourist, a drunk who couldn’t tell the difference between a shadow on the road or the top of a flight of stairs, or someone being ‘taught a lesson’. But this was her new life, and she was determined to be a new and better person. So, staff in hand, she went in search of the wounded creature, determined to help if she could, or put it out of its misery if she couldn’t.   
It isn’t long before she finds the creature, and it’s so different to what she was expecting that she nearly drops her staff in shock. It’s _huge_ , furred like a lion but with the horns of a sheep and fangs that looked as thought they could easily tear out her throat. They’re bared in pain and frustration as the creature cradles a paw close to its chest, hobbling along on three paws.   
This must be the creature she’s been warned about. It’s looking at her now, and she swings her staff out and up, her stance defensive but not aggressive. She instantly regrets it as her eyes go to his wounded paw. The creature didn’t flinch at all when she raised her weapon, just stared at her and growled, long and low. Rey can feel the vibration of it in the ground beneath her feet and her lips part involuntarily.   
On opposite sides of the clearing they stare at each other, and Rey blinks first, lowering her staff and taking a few tentative steps towards the beast. It doesn’t move until she’s standing in front of it (she takes a peek between its legs and discovers that it is, in fact, a he) and reaching out to touch his paw. Then he takes a step back, making a noise somewhere between a growl and a moan.   
‘It’s swollen,’ she says, keeping her voice low and matter-of-fact. ‘You need to put ice on it. Or maybe …’ She can hear a stream on the other side of the trees. ‘Soak your paw in the water. That will help the swelling.’   
It isn’t until she’s halfway to the stream that she realises that she was talking to the beast like it was human. A second after that she realises that, judging by the sound of him crashing through bushes, he actually understood her.   
When he lowers his injured paw he hisses but doesn’t pull back. She takes a step back into the deepening shadow of the tree so she can get a good look at him.   
Rey isn’t well-travelled but she reads every book she can get her hands on, and she’s never seen or read about anything like the creature in front of her. He’s huge — his shoulder is just above her head, and if she stood on her toes she might just be able to touch the tip of his nose. He walks on all fours but he sits like a human, legs crossed in front of him. Thick black fur covers every inch that she can see, and she clenches her fists so she won’t be tempted to see if it’s as silky as it looks — the bits that aren’t matted with burrs. He has horns on either side of his head, curled like a ram’s. They’d be pretty if they weren’t so criss-crossed with scars. This is a creature used to fighting.   
But it’s his eyes that intrigue her most. They’re a startling shade of brown, framed by impressively thick eyelashes and filled with a haunting loneliness that mirrors her own. She’s never seen eyes like that on a creature before. Even in his beastly face they look … human.   
With a grunt the beast sits back, shaking water from his fur. Slowly, he tests his injured paw against the ground and gets on all fours, limping slowly from the clearing. In the deepening twilight she sees his head turn back towards her and then he’s gone, leaving her alone.


	3. Chapter 3

For the first time since she moved to Takodana Rey isn’t woken by the sound of one of her neighbours knocking just a bit too loudly on the door, asking her to theirs for breakfast or quizzing her about her daily plans. As she makes her meal she finds herself missing it — it was annoying, sure, but she’d like the company of a few of them and had started to think of some of her neighbours as friends.   
It isn’t until she goes to the morning markets that she realises something is wrong. It’s as busy as always, but not loud enough to explain the sudden deafness that comes over all of the stall owners when she tries to buy something from them. Out of the corner of her eye she sees mothers pull their children closer as she walks by. One particularly energetic child pulls away from her mother and runs to Rey, tugging on her leggings.   
‘Is it true?’ she asks, eyes wide.   
‘Is what true, BeBe?’  
‘Mama said you spoke to the _beast!_ But that can’t be true, ‘cause he gobbles everyone up. Last month he ate up Mr Poe _and_ Mr Finn but Mama says I mustn’t talk about them since they’re indessent. What does that mean?’  
Young BeBe is yanked away with a sharp cry as Rey puzzles over what she’s just heard. A couple of things click together, and she nods, knowing what she has to do next.   
She manages to buy some of the fruit she wants by threatening to simply take it unless she’s served. She goes home, packs herself a lunch and then heads out for the castle everyone in the village pretends not to see.   
Rey had travelled past the castle on her way to Takodana but the road that branched off looked so overgrown she’d assumed it was a ruin. For the past week she’d noticed that not one single head turned in its direction. She’d seen this behaviour in Jakku, the way that no one would look towards the Mayor’s mansion so they wouldn’t have to see anything that would confirm the rumours about what went on there.   
After the mansion burned down and his corpse had been dragged away Rey swore to herself that next time she saw people avoiding an uncomfortable truth she’d step up and do something before it was too late. Now she heads towards to thing that everyone else doesn’t want to see.  
The road is overgrown but there’s an animal track that’s easy enough to follow. Strands of long black fur hang from every tree. The beast clearly comes this way often. What is it he’s looking for?  
The castle gates are closed but there’s a hole in the wall large enough for her to squeeze through. A tree branch yanks out one of her hair loops but she emerges on the other side, dusty and unharmed.   
It’s beautifully quiet in the garden. There’s a stillness here that’s as close to peace as she’s gotten in years.   
The garden is wild and overgrown but there are signs everywhere — curving paths, fruit trees, an abandoned shovel — that this was once loved and cared for. Someone put real thought and effort into the garden, and that person is just as clearly long gone.   
With a quick shake of her head she heads towards the castle. It’s not exactly easy to miss: several stories high and far too many towers. Whoever had the good taste in designing the garden did _not_ have any say in how this was built.   
As she takes it all in she hears the sound of rusted door hinges screeching as they’re forced open. She has just enough time to get her staff up before the beast runs towards her, roaring loud enough that she can feel it in her bones. She reacts instinctively, weight centred, left foot back for more power, and _up_ and _out_ with the staff and then the beast is reeling back, blood pouring down his face.   
‘Next time I’ll hit you even harder,’ says Rey. Her hands and voice are steady and she breathes calmly. She’s only a little bit afraid. ‘Are you going to be calm now?’  
The beast has one paw clamped to his eye. With the other he stares at her like he’s never seen a woman before.   
Maybe he hasn’t.   
He hangs his head and rumbles and for a moment Rey thinks she must be hearing things because she could swear it sounded like ‘sorry’.  
Just in case, she lowers her staff and says politely, ‘I forgive you. Now let’s look at that.’   
It isn’t too bad — it won’t even leave a scar. It’s difficult to get at beneath the fur but she wipes away the worst of the blood while he hisses in pain.   
‘I hope you learn something from this,’ she says, keeping her voice firm. ‘It’s no wonder the villagers are afraid of you if you’re going to carry on like this. Do you do this when anyone comes up to the castle, or is it just me?’  
‘No one comes here,’ he says, and although the sound of it is a little twisted, what with his massive teeth and oddly-shaped jaw, she’s sure this time that the beast actually spoke to her. She takes a deep breath in order to calm herself and nods, unable to speak.   
When Rey’s done checking his wound he turns and leaves her sitting on the stairs. The doors slam behind him with an almighty _bang_.   
She walks back to the village feeling … lighter somehow. The townspeople still ignore her, but she’s used to that. She got plenty of it in Jakku. It doesn’t hurt (much) anymore.


	4. Chapter 4

There’s no real reason she should help him. It’s a cliche, the young woman helping the lost, wounded animal and healing her own pain in the meantime. She hates cliches, hates _being_ the cliche, and yet … Rey can’t forget the look in his eye when she first saw him. She’s never seen such hurt and loneliness in eyes that weren’t her own.   
The real reason she wants to help him is simple — she’d want someone to do the same for her.   
So the next morning Rey packs herself another lunch and goes to the castle. There is no roaring attack today but she knows that the inhabitant of the castle is watching her because one of the curtains keeps twitching. Unwilling to sit around and wait, she practices with her staff.   
It feels good to move her muscles like this. She spins and thrusts and blocks imaginary attackers until she’s sweating, chest heaving with exertion. Bent over, hands on her knees, she looks up at the window. The beast is watching her openly now, but he isn’t moving. With a wave she sits with her back to him, eating her lunch in solitude and enjoying the garden.   
The third day is a copy of the second, but on the fourth day the beast comes outside, sitting at the top of the steps while she practices. It’s a beautiful day and the beast gives every impression of a cat enjoying the sunshine. When she sits to eat her lunch she leaves an extra sandwich on the bench. The beast won’t come near her, but when she goes back the next day it’s gone, and the beast sits at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for her.  
‘Who taught you?’ he asks. His voice is rough, like he hasn’t used it much.   
‘I taught myself. Jakku was a rough place, and I was all alone.’ She’s matter of fact when she says this. It isn’t something that makes her sad anymore. Just a fact.  
‘You didn’t have a teacher?’  
‘No.’  
He rocks back and forth, an endearing gesture for such a large creature. ‘Would you like a sparring partner?’  
‘Do you have a staff?’  
The beast breaks a branch from the nearest tree and holds it out for Rey to inspect. It looks strong enough, and it feels nice and solid in her hands. She tosses it back to him and then swings her own staff up, ready to fight.   
The force of his swing almost knocks her to the ground and she cries out with the effort of staying upright. The beast waits for Rey to get her footing and then strikes again, softer this time. She catches his staff with her own and ducks under it, lashing out with her foot. He slides back in time to avoid it, and uses his momentum to twist his body, bringing his weapon around to meet hers. The sound of their staves meeting echoes down the mountain, and in the village below the townspeople cover their ears and squeeze their eyes shut, praying for it to end.   
Rey has never fought like this before. She’s practiced by herself and fought off an attacker or defended someone else, but nothing like this, a lightning-quick struggle with a partner who’s restrained enough that she isn’t overwhelmed but at the same time refuses to go easy on her. It’s exhilarating, and she fights with everything she has.  
When sweat is stinging in her eyes and she can barely get her breath she throws her staff to the ground and holds her hands up.   
‘Enough,’ she pants. ‘It’s lunch time.’   
He accepts the food she hands him. Rey likes the fresh food sold at the markets but she’s tired of fighting the locals for it. Besides the food she grew up on, the food that she’s most used to is the powdered grey-green rations they gave out in her former desert home of Jakku. It’s what she brought today, in two bowls. Half a cup of water each and they’re ready to go, plump, firm and filling with enough basic nutrients to get you through the day. The beast sniffs disdainfully at his but eats it anyway, turning his head as he gulps it down in one bite.   
She loves the stillness and peace of the garden but she’s also dying to know more about the creature sitting beside her. What is he? How can he talk? Why is everyone so afraid of him? But those seem like too intimate questions to start with, so she settles on a easy question.   
‘Do you live here alone?’  
It was a question Rey assumed she already knew the answer to. She was already preparing to ask her next question when the beast flung his bowl at the nearest tree and ran up the stairs on all fours, disappearing into the castle. He didn’t even bother to slam the door shut behind him, leaving it open and gaping like a wound.   
Confused but undaunted, Rey picks up the remains of her bowl and takes it home. It can easily be repaired.


	5. Chapter 5

When Rey makes her way to the castle the next morning the beast is waiting for her, pacing impatiently in front of the open castle gates. She smiles and ducks her head until she’s in control of her face again.   
‘Ready to spar?’ is all she says, and they do. The sound of their staves hitting each other echoes across the courtyard until Rey calls their fighting to a halt. She’s sweating and gasping for air but she’s never felt more alive. The beast drops to all fours, his tongue lolling from his mouth. He drops his staff and moves to the nearby fountain, using his massive paw to scoop water into his mouth.   
Rey prepares their lunches (still rations) and when she looks up the beast is in front of her again, a bunch of purple berries on his outstretched paw.   
‘I thought they’d make your food taste better.’   
She adds them to their bowls and sits, patting the seat beside her. He’s big enough that he rocks the whole bench when he moves but sit he does, eyes focussed on his food.   
Rey sniffs the berries. They smell alright, and she pops one in her mouth and bites it. Juice explodes across her tongue, tart and fresh and she moans out loud at the shock of it. Beside her the beast makes an odd choking noise and walks away again. She ignores him, too busy savouring the fruit and looking around for more.   
For a moment she sees a man by the fountain: tall, rugged and completely naked. When she turns her head only the beast is there, dunking his head into the water. He comes back soaking wet and shaking himself like a dog.   
‘Are you ready to go again?’ he asks.   
‘Are there any more berries?’ she replies.   
His mouth moves into something that might be a grin. ‘If you want to know, you’ll have to beat me.’ 

***

Then next couple of weeks pass more or less the same way. Rey likes the rhythm of it: fighting, eating and fighting again. She likes that the beast never asks her to dress differently, speak differently, act differently. She’s free to be herself, a young woman getting stronger every day.   
One day over lunch Rey is surprised when the beast asks her questions about herself. They’re the same questions she was asked by the villagers but when he asks them it isn’t as though he’s measuring her against an internal list of expectations. He’s truly curious about her as a person.   
She keeps her answers sparse: most of her life has been a struggle, a violent one, and it isn’t something she wants to discuss just yet.   
‘And what about you?’ she asks.   
He hesitates before he tells her a story that’s just as pared down as hers was. Rey sees her hesitation mirrored by the beast and doesn’t push. They have plenty of time.  
She has another question but the beast looks up at the hills behind her. ‘It’s going to be dark soon,’ he says. He looks down at his paws. ’I’ll walk you home, if you like,’ he says quietly.  
Rey snorts. ‘I don’t need an escort, thank you very much,’ she says as she stands and packs up their lunch things.   
‘I didn’t mean … I just thought you might like some company.’   
When Rey turns to look at him he’s staring at her, shifting from paw to paw. If he were human, she’d swear he had a crush on her.   
‘I’ll be fine,’ she says. ‘See you tomorrow.’ 

***

Inside the castle the beast paces, first on four legs and then on two. He allows to his confusion to roll over him, soothing his hurt with its familiarity.   
Without warning it washes away, leaving him all alone with his thoughts, the ones he’s trying so desperately trying not to have. But they come, unbidden, and on cue he hears the hissing. Quietly, shamefully, he pads into his Master’s room, ready for his daily castigation.   
His Master sits in his throne, never moving, shrouded in dust. Kylo Ren used to wipe him down every day. He can’t quite remember why he stopped.   
Master Snoke is hissing again, his voice full of fury and disappointment. Kylo hangs his shaggy black head, shame welling in his gut. The hissing increases in length and intensity as Kylo stares at his own paws. He remembers this morning when Rey slipped under his guard and landed a well-placed strike on his shoulder. She’d told him later that he shouldn’t have let her get the hit in but the truth was that she was just that talented. His shoulder still stung.  
Once he’d started thinking about Rey he found that he couldn’t stop. He wondered if she would put up with being hissed at every day, that brave young woman who was his only human contact in over a decade.   
The beast’s head snaps up and he looks at Master Snoke, really _looks._ The man who’d raised him, who’d taught him to be strong, the only other person who knew what it was to be cursed … he isn’t in charge anymore. He isn’t even human, just a background noise, Kylo Ren’s most awful thoughts reflected back at himself.   
Rising to his hind legs, the beast leaves the room, shutting the door firmly behind him. In the empty room, the thing that used to be Snoke falls silent, dissolving into dust.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning for very mild violence against women. It's Rey, and she'll be fine.

When the beast wakes the next morning he’s excited without knowing why. He raises his head from his paws and stands, shaking out his sore limbs. He can’t wait to spar with Rey — he’s thought of a new move he can teach her.   
The beast tidies his fur as best he can without the aid of a mirror or a hair brush and makes his way outside. He doesn’t bother to appear casual anymore. Weeks of beating each other and intimate lunch conversations have burned that pretence away.   
She’s late today. The beast paces the garden instead, stretching for the upcoming sparring match.   
An hour passes, then another. The sun reaches its peak in the sky and heads for the opposite horizon.   
Still, the beast waits.   
He has two inner voices: his own, and one that resembles Snoke. It’s the second one that speaks to him now, hissing that Rey never cared for him, that she doesn’t value his friendship, that she was just using him.   
As little as six months ago the beast would have believed that without question. But he knows better now.   
The thought doesn’t make him any happier. If she isn’t here, it isn’t by choice. So something bad has happened to her. He wants to wait for nightfall to search for her under the cover of darkness but he’s too anxious. He has to go _now._   
He’s spent so much time out here he could (and has) do it with his eyes shut. Every exposed tree root, every loose rock, he knows where they are and how to avoid them, even at speed, and so it takes him only minutes to reach the edge of the town that has been frightened of him for so long.   
There’s no one about, but that isn’t surprising. It’s almost nightfall now and he’s heard just how superstitious they are. What is surprising is the amount of noise coming from the town square. People are yelling and cheering and … is that screaming? Shrugging off his desire to avoid people he slinks through alleyways until he reaches the town square.   
Most people would look at the people and call them a group, a crowd. He sees a _mob_ surrounding his new friend. A few of them are even carrying pitchforks, waving them half-heartedly in the air every so often.  
Rey’s arm is being gripped by a red-haired man that the beast instantly dislikes. He has his face inches away from Rey’s and he’s shouting at her, flecks of his spit coating her face. The beast can see Rey’s fists, clenched in anger even as she takes a deep, calming breath.   
The redhead clearly mistakes Rey’s silence for weakness and he shoves her, hard. It stokes the beast’s anger into white hot fury and he leaps, roaring, claws extended and hungry for blood. 

***

Rey is very nearly at the end of her patience. When she tried to leave her house that morning she found her way blocked by angry and frightened villagers. Leading them is Mayor Hux, sneering at her.   
‘We know you see the Creature,’ he said, standing to military attention. ‘He spreads misfortune and death to us all.’  
‘He killed Finn and Poe!’ said someone near the back of the crowd.   
‘Who are they?’ asks Rey. And then she remembers the local gossip. ‘Aren’t they the two that moved to Yavin? To start an inn together?’  
‘Well, they … the filthy Beast killed them both! In their separate beds! And you’re consorting with it! The town isn’t safe with it, or you, around!’  
The town had cheered and ushered her into the square where Mayor Hux had harangued her for hours. It was awful, and then boring.   
But Rey has learned patience. She can’t fight her way out of a crowd this size and so she watches and waits for her chance. She can see the other townspeople becoming bored too. When their pitchforks and axes begin to droop she reacts, kicking behind her and then elbowing Hux in the ribs, hard enough that he lets her go. With a final burst of energy she jumps onto the mayor’s back and uses him as a springboard to launch herself onto the nearest roof, tucking her legs away so that no one can pull her down.   
She peers over the roof edge. The villagers all have their backs to her and are staring at a man, naked and holding a staff in an attack position. She blinks and it’s the beast, and his ‘staff’ appears to be part of someone’s fence. But he isn’t attacking, and neither are the townspeople. Everyone but Rey is locked in a stalemate.  
It’s her who breaks it first. ‘What are you doing here?’ she asks, doing her best to sound casual.   
‘You didn’t show. I came looking for you, to resc- to see what had happened to you.’ He briefly looks away, as if embarrassed.   
‘You can _talk?’_ says one of the villagers. ‘I didn’t know that!’  
The beast shrugs. ‘None of you ever asked.’   
‘Did you do what Mayor Hux said? Did you really gobble up those men in their beds?’ Little BeBe has pushed her way to the front of the crowd and is face to face with the beast, completely calm.   
‘No. I’ve never eaten anyone. And this is the first time in years I’ve set foot in the village.’   
‘What about the cattle killings? The spoiled milk, the rotten crops?’ Other voices are asking question now, as BeBe’s mother yanks her back into the crowd.  
‘Have any of you actually had spoiled milk, or had your crops grow rotten?’ asks Rey. She’s standing now, feet firmly planted on the slanted roof. ‘Or was that just more of Hux’s lies?’   
The townspeople look at each other — those that aren’t blushing and staring at their feet. But one man steps forward.   
‘I had a cow killed ‘bout eight years ago. Slaughtered, it was, innards clean gone like they’d been eaten. Was that you, boy?’  
The beast nods, lowering his staff. ‘Yes. I remember killing a cow. It wasn’t long after I’d … changed, and I was going crazy with the hunger. I’m sorry, and I’m more than happy to pay you for it.’  
The man stares at the beast for a moment, and then nods sharply. ‘We all do stupid things when we’re young. Just don’t do it again.’   
‘It’s cold,’ says Rey, jumping lightly from the roof to the ground. People step back as she walks into their midst. ‘And I’m sure your beds are warm. We should all get a good night’s sleep and talk in the morning. Maybe over pancakes?’ That earns a laugh from the villagers. One by one they go into their homes until only Rey and the beast stand in the town square.   
‘You can put the staff down now,’ she says. ‘You won’t be attacked tonight.’   
He stares at the piece of wood in his hands. ‘I should offer to fix this.’  
‘Tomorrow.’ Rey takes his paw in her hand and leads him towards her house. ‘Thank you for coming to find me.’  
‘I should have known you didn’t need my help,’ he says. His paw trembles a little as he speaks, and she squeezes it tight in reassurance.   
‘I didn’t. But it was still … nice. No one’s ever come to my rescue before.’  
Even as she leans forward she wonders if what she’s doing is right. It’s not like he’s human, after all. But a force stronger than herself compels her forward and then her lips are touching his, gently, the fur around his mouth tickling her skin.   
The shape of his mouth is … odd, inhuman. His fangs are hard against her lips. But he kisses her back as best he can until she pulls away, eyes closed, heart fluttering in her chest.   
When she opens her eyes again the beast is gone. Standing in his place is a young man, a few years older than herself. His hair is the same colour as the beast’s fur, his expression is identical and he is quite naked.   
With a cough she turns her head and hands him her cloak. ‘I guess you didn’t need clothes when you had fur, then?’  
‘No,’ he says. Rey peeks and is only a little disappointed to see that he’s fully covered. There are so many things she’d like to say but at the moment the only thing she can think of is, ‘Are you going back to the castle tonight?’  
The man she’d thought of only as the beast is staring at her with an expression she doesn’t recognise: it’s a mix of desperation, hunger and something else she can’t quite name. ‘Where else would I go?’  
‘My cottage is nearby. We could talk, and you could tell me your name.’  
‘Ben,’ he says, his voice breaking slightly. ‘My name is Ben.’   
As they walk towards her home she takes his hand again, and realises with a shiver that he still has his claws.   
She shuts the door behind them. Everything else can wait until tomorrow.


	7. Chapter 7

Ben has been human for a month. It isn’t easy — he’s much smaller, and he has to get used to human things like cutlery and wearing clothes. But the look on Rey’s face every time he makes some small achievement makes him want to try harder and he does, until he almost feels at home in his old skin.   
He told Rey about the curse, about Snoke, about the parents he barely remembers. She tells him about her childhood, and he doesn’t shy away from even the worst stories, just holds her until she can speak again.   
The day after the ‘incident’ (as the villagers refer to it, on the rare occasion they ever do) it was discovered that Mayor Hux’s cottage was empty, his bed stripped, his belongings gone. After a town meeting a new mayor was elected, and her first decree was that all were welcome in the village. Mr Poe and Mr Finn never did come back, but their tavern thrived.  
Rey spends her days teaching self-defence classes to the local children and her evenings with Ben. To his surprise he discovered he enjoyed cooking, so he prepares meals for the both of them as they discuss the events of their day. Ben never goes back to the castle. There’s nothing waiting for him there.  
Another month passes when two strangers enter the village. The townspeople are wary of the man — the know a thief when they see one — but his wife is a different matter. She holds her head high and there’s a certain regal bearing in her step. She asks for directions and little BeBe is happy to give them.   
That evening as Rey and Ben sit down for dinner there’s a knock at the door. Ben opens it (visitors won’t get between Rey and her food, ever) and doesn’t recognise their faces. Not until they smile, and hold him close.   
He’s finally home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading this piece, I hope you all liked it :)


End file.
